alex speier

D-ficiency: Leaky Red Sox defense a key ingredient to early struggles

The Red Sox offense remains mired in a profound slump. Yet that doesn't mean the team shouldn't be able to win.

At a time when the team has been scratching its collective head while trying to puzzle through how to generate more consistent runs, the Sox have gotten the strong pitching performances needed to weather the proverbial storm. After all, teams can win even in the absence of offensive consistency -- particularly in April, when runs are scarce across the game -- with tremendous run prevention.

Case in point: the Royals. Kansas City has been even more offensively challenged than the Sox, averaging just 3.47 runs per game, a tick below the Sox' average of 3.53 runs per contest. Yet the Royals have been winning despite that struggle, forging an 8-7 record, while the Sox now find themselves in last place in the AL East with a 7-10 mark following their 8-4 loss to the Orioles on Friday.

Why? Though both offenses have struggled in similar fashions, and both have enjoyed strong pitching performances, there's a considerable distinction between the two teams that helps to explain why their records feature an early-season spread.

The Royals are among the best defensive teams in baseball to date. The Red Sox -- in the absence of right fielder Shane Victorino and third baseman Will Middlebrooks -- are among the worst.

Friday highlighted the Sox' defensive limitations. While John Lackey was charged with six runs on 10 hits, he didn't give up a ton of hard contact. He allowed eight singles and two doubles.

"They hit a number of ground balls that found some holes," manager John Farrell grimaced after the fact.

Groundball after groundball resulted in hits, whether of the infield variety or those that found holes. A fifth inning, two-out, run-scoring single to right, for instance, looked like a routine play -- or at least a ball that could have been knocked down -- but bounded under the glove of first baseman Mike Carp and into right field for what was ruled an RBI single that opened the door to a pair of runs in the inning. A number of grounders up the middle or in the hole between short and third base also represented bad contact that ended in hits. Daniel Nava couldn't make a clean play on a double down the right field line, staying back on a ball that Victorino might attack in order to prevent the runner from first from being able to score on the play and the batter from advancing to second. Call-up Brock Holt showed quick reactions while playing third, though a line drive in the fifth got past him in part because he is simply much smaller than Middlebrooks, and so his well-timed leap could not extend as far as a ball that the 6-foot-5 Middlebrooks likely could have reached with relative ease.

Every season will feature nights when a pitcher gets a bunch of bad contact but doesn't get the desired results as a result of bad luck, falling victim to the cuneiform-inscribed philosophy of hitting 'em where they ain't. But at a certain point, when such nights recur with great frequency, a problem exists. And the Red Sox appear to be moving quickly to the area of problematic defense. Injuries certainly have played into that.

The diminutive ensemble of Holt, Jonathan Herrera and Ryan Roberts has lacked the wingspan of Middlebrooks, thus opening up holes in the infield. The range deficiencies of the Sox at third base, in turn, have become even more impactful given that Xander Bogaerts hasn't been able to match the consistently excellent range demonstrated last year by Stephen Drew and Jose Iglesias. At times when Napoli has been absent from first base, Carp and Nava have represented a significant dropoff from the Sox' Gold Glove-caliber regular at the position.

The outfield isn't much better. Grady Sizemore wasn't showing the range or reads to stay in center, and he's now adjusting to life as a left fielder. With Sizemore in left, Nava and Jonny Gomes have represented a considerable dropoff in right from Victorino. When Sizemore was in center and flanked by Nava and Gomes, the Sox felt exposed in their outfield defense.

Defense served as a strength for the Sox last year. When the pitchers induced weak contact, plays unfolded behind them as if scripted. There was a predictability, reliability and stability to what would happen on the field once bat met ball.

No longer -- or at least not yet. With constantly changing alignments and personnel, the Red Sox haven't been able to provide stability when in the field.

It hasn't just been a matter of the Red Sox failing the defensive eye test. Statistics underscore that they've done a poor job of converting balls in play into outs. Defensive efficiency measures just that -- what percentage of balls hit into the field of play result in outs.

A year ago, the Red Sox were middle of the pack in the statistic, converting 69.6 percent of balls in play into outs (13th in the majors). This year, they're turning just 67.1 percent of balls in play into outs -- a mark that is tied with the defensively deficient Tigers for 24th in the majors. The Royals, meanwhile, have turned 71.8 percent of balls in play into outs, a mark that ranks sixth in the majors and surely plays a role in Kansas City's strong start that belies the fact that the team hasn't hit yet.

Now, help is undoubtedly on the way for the Sox. Victorino is expected to return next week. Middlebrooks may be back by next weekend or early the following week.

The Sox recognize the urgency of tighter defense, and so they seem almost certain to keep Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field and pair him with Victorino, a combination that should be at least the equal of the Victorino/Jacoby Ellsbury pairing. The return of Middlebrooks at third could also prove stabilizing.

But until those players are back, especially on nights when Napoli is not on the field, the Red Sox may have to suffer through more games like Friday's, where the results are simply ugly to witness. And at a time when the Sox' offense has yet to find any sort of rhythm, defense represents a shortcoming that the team can ill-afford.

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